Tackless lasting.



A. STRAUB, DECD.

A. STRAUB, ADMINISTBATRIX.

TAGKLESS LASTING.

APPLICATION FILED 1320.22, 1910.

Patented Jan, 5, 1915.

l/v Llweowo THE NORRIS PETERS 60.. PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGmN. D4 C.

"UNTTED STATES PATENT @FFTQE.

ALBERT STRAUB, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.; AUGUSTA STBAUB ADMINISTRATRIX 0F EAID ALBERT STRAUB, DECEASED.

TAGKLESS LASTING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 5, T3915,

Application filed December 22, 1910. Serial No. 598,844.

To all whom it may concern? Be it known that I, ALBERT STRAUB, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of the city of New York, borough of Queens, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tackless Lasting, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacture of shoes, and particularly to an improved method of securing the upper to the insole of the shoe, in which the use of tacks is done away with.

Heretofore, in lasting a shoe, it has been customary to place the insole our the last by means of tacks, and then to place the upper on the last and draw the edges of the upper down against the outer or bottom face of the insole and tack the upper thereto. This requires that the toe and heel part of the upper be gathered in by hand and pincers and vigorously forced in place against the insole and then tacked with a very large number of tacks. This operation requires a great deal of costly time and skill on the part of the workmen, and seldom, if ever, results in uniformity by reason of the unequal pressure employed. By reason of the use of a large number of tacks employed which are very .close together at the toe and heel, only heavier leather for the insole can be used, imposing thereby limitations on the use of materials when employing the methods heretofore known.

The object of the present invention is to obviate these difficulties; and to this end my invention consists in attaching a cord to the parts to be gathered, by placing the cord on the outer face of the upper, approxlmately at, but away from the edge thereof, and attaching the cord to said face, as for instance, by guide-stitches passed over the cord and into the material of the upper, allowing, however, free play of the cord in respect to the stitches, then drawing the cord tight, lacing it through end holes and then tying the ends of cord. This drawing of the cord tight, placed as it is some distance from the edge of the upper, properly gathers the edge of the upper at the toe or counter portion as the case may be, and enables a uniform upper at the toe and counter to be produced much more effectively than has been done heretofore and enables a lasting of a McKay shoe to be carried on without the use of tacks.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 shows a bottom view of the insole and the upper applied thereto, and Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views taken respectively on lines 2-2 and 33 of Fig. 1.

Like reference characters refer to like parts throughout the several figures.

The top or insole 5 is first applied to the bottom of the last 4 in the usual manner, namely by a few positioning tacks, 20, temporarily applied to hold the insole in place. The complete upper 6 is of the usual shape, but holes 18 in the manner shown in Fig. 1. are stamped or punched in the upper.

The edge of the toe part of t. e upper is operated upon by. a sewing machine and a cord 7 is laid thereon and attached thereto by stitches, as for instance,bya zigzag lock stitch, the needle-thread 8 passing alternately over but not through the cord, and through the material of the upper, being locked therein by the bobbin thread 9. The stitches are some distance away from the edges of the upper and permit a free play of the cord thereunder, it being noted that when the cord is pulled tight as shown in Fig. 1, it still retains a position considerably away from the edge of the upper. This position is important because by reason thereof, the pull is uniform and the folding takes place at certain parts of the upper only, namely at the innermost part, the pulling of: the parts of the upper at the point where it passes over the insole being however entirely uniform. A cord 11 is attached around the edge of the heel by the thread 12 in like manner. When the upper is placed over the last, cement is applied to the exposed face of the edge of the insole and the inner face of the edge of the upper. The cord 7 is then drawn tight like the gathering string of a bag, gathering the toe portion of the upper as shown, and the cord is then passed through the holes 13 and endholes 13 pulled in as in lacing and tied as in 14:. Similarly the cord 11 passes through holes 15 and end holes 15 and is tied at 16. It will be seen that first the toe or heel portion of the upper is pulled in and then the lacing is carried out, consisting therefore of two independent steps. This insures a uniform pull on the toe and counter portion of the upper. Then the temporary tacks are removed. Thereupon the outer sole is laid on, the filler having been, as is usual, inserted between the insole and the outer sole, the last is withdrawn and the sole is stitched on.

It will be noted that the drawings show the cord a definite distance from the edges of the upper, a distance in practice corresponding approximately to about one quarter of an inch. I have found that this position is essential to successful, practical operation, since when the cord is so placed, it does not require further manipulation as hammering in, which is required in those cases when the cord is at the edge.

My invention therefore consists of a method of lasting a so-called McKay sewed shoe without the use of any tacks in the operation of the actual lasting. This method of tackless lasting dispenses entirely with the tacks and enables a flexible shoe to be produced which cannot be produced with tacks. Further, tacks require a comparatively heavy insole to give body to which the tacks can fasten, so that in tackless lasting, a much lighter and softer insole may be used, saving thereby material as also adding greatly to the flexibility of the shoe. A large number of tacks placed closely together stiffen a shoe considerably, and this Copies of this patent may be obtained for disadvantageous feature is also done away with.

By my improved method, the cost of manufacture of shoes is greatly decreased and the product itself made far superior to those heretofore in use.

I claim as my invention:

The method of lasting shoes which consists in placing a gathering cord in gathering position around the heel of the upper and removed from the edge thereof, at the outer exposed face thereof, placing a gathering cord in gathering position around the toe of the upper and removed from the edge thereof, at the outer exposed face thereof, drawing said cords until the heel and toe respectively are gathered, lacing the cords to the sides'of the upper, one adjacent to the heel, the other adjacent to the toe, and securing the gathering cords for retaining the upper in gathered and laced position.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signed my name in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ALBERT STRAUB.

Witnesses:

C. P. GoErEL, H. M. KILrA'rRIoK.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents, Washington, D. G. 

